UPDATE 9 Jan 2014: This position has now been filled. Thanks to everyone who applied!

Hi all,

As I posted a couple of weeks ago, Screen Australia is giving me funding to develop Zombie Outbreak Simulator for Android.

When I submitted my application to Screen Australia I was planning on doing all of the programming myself, partnering with James Filippone to do the artwork and Surprise Attack to help with marketing advice. At the time I was doing contract work and so could have fit ZOS in amongst that. But I’m now much busier as I’ve recently started a full-time job.

So, I’m looking to hire a programmer to help me out!

I plan to do the core chunk of work of porting the basic zombies-on-maps gameplay from iOS over to Android – which is probably the most boring part :) I’m looking for someone to help build the new user interface using the new design which James will be making, as well as developing the new gameplay features like parachuting soldiers, helicopter rescues, etc.

I will be working on the app myself in my spare time – which is how I’ve built ZOS and C3O so far, over the last 4 years. So this would most likely suit someone who would like to work similarly. I’m imagining this might be appropriate for a current student or recent graduate, or something like that – but I’m open to anyone who is interested.

In the short term the plan is to build ZOS for Android. But this is part of a longer term strategy of expanding ZOS on iOS, expanding C3O on the web, and ultimately bringing C3O to mobile as well (see my last post for more details). If you’re just interested in a short-term gig developing ZOS on Android, then that’s cool. But I’d love to partner with someone who would be interested in continuing to develop ZOS/C3O in the future. I’d love to take all of the money Binary Space earns from selling ZOS on Android and funnel it into your bank account, to keep making awesome things :)

The key attributes you need are:

• Smart
• Interested in learning new technologies
• Ideally interested in zombies

If you have these then I’m sure you’ll be able to pick up whatever skills you need to make cool stuff happen. I starting developing ZOS/C3O for the web without having done any Flash before, I started developing ZOS for iOS without having done any iOS before, I’m starting development of ZOS for Android without having done any Android before – learning new things is what I like to do :)

These are the kinds of things you’ll be writing / learning as you go:

• Android
• C++
• OpenGL ES 2
• Java

To see how I’ve done things in the past, and if you’re interested in the long-term, then you might be working with some of these:

• iOS
• Objective-C
• Python
• Flash
• ActionScript
• HTML
• JavaScript
• CSS

Think Flash is a bit uncool / old school? That’s okay, me too – I’ll need to rewrite the Flash in HTML5 before September 2014 anyway.

Besides the money, your work will be seen by thousands of people. ZOS on iOS has been downloaded by 200,000 people and gets played by about 13,000 people a month. The web versions of C3O/ZOS have been played over 4 million times, with 20,000 visitors a month.

Ideally I’d like to get a chunk of the main port out of the way before bringing someone on, so it will likely be late January / early February before I’ll be ready for you to start. But we can work around whatever works for you.

Since you’ll be paid using funding from Screen Australia, you’ll need to be living in Australia.

If you’re interested, send me an email at jobs@binaryspacegames.com with some details of why you’d be suitable (eg links to things you’ve worked on before, your linked in / stack overflow / github / whatever profiles, etc).

Saxon